This invention relates generally to shipping and display carts and more particularly to a self-storing closure member on a cart to obtain goods on the cart.
The use of shipping and display carts is well known in the prior art. Such prior art carts generally include a wheeled platform having either three or two side walls mounted around the perimeter of the cart providing one or two open walls for placing or displacing articles upon the cart. Such carts may also include a top member connecting the side walls to provide rigidity thereto and also to support objects as desired.
It has been a practice in the past to provide a closure member for the open side wall portions of the cart which closure member may either be rigid folding doors pivotally mounted about vertical axis or a plurality of flexible chain members. Carts which have used the chain members have also included spring connectors so that the chain members are extensible to allow the chains to be latched at their lower ends and when objects on the cart stick out beyond the perimeter of the cart.
A problem which occurs with the above type of prior art closure members of the carts is that the closure members function properly during transport of the cart but cannot be conveniently stored during unloading and display. In the case of doors pivoted about vertical axis, such doors must be pivoted away from the open wall of the display cart and either latched to the side or allowed to swing freely. During movement of and unloading of the carts, the doors may get in the way and may not allow carts to be positioned against each other when the doors are latched around the sides. Accordingly, it is sometimes necessary to retain the doors in their open position so that they will be out of the way.
In the case of flexible chains, they are draped over the top for storing and may become tangled and hang downwardly and be unsitely. Since the cart may also be used as a display cart it is important that it be aestectically pleasing.
It is an object of the invention to overcome the problems of the prior art by providing a wheeled cart having a closure member which may be easily stored on top of the cart out of the way. The closure member does not interfere with the displaying of items in the cart and remains in position on top when carts are being unloaded and are transported after delivering items to a store. Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.